A Comic - My Beloved Monster

I'm pleased to be working with Oliver Ho again on another comic project. This time it involves a cat as one of the main characters in his story entitled, My Beloved Monster. It's a romance with a twist. Below is some concept art of the main characters: Darnell, Ella, the Cat; and some of the supporting cast, Susan, Hazel, Joan and David.

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I'll admit that drawing comics generally doesn't come easy to me. It's a whole different set of skills to master: Panels, story flow, leading the eye from panel to panel, following the script, text bubbles, camera angles, inking, action, conveying emotion, and all those tiny little panels sometimes feels a little restrictive to me. I do think the Schoolism classes I've taken so far have made a huge difference because to me my drawings feel more confident and expressive which makes the layout step a much more enjoyable experience. I can't share anything else with you just yet but perhaps a page or two once it's complete. :)

Sneak Peak at Monster Artist

Last April, I participated in my first 12-hour comic jam with writer, Oliver Ho. I didn't finish the story in the allotted time but I wanted to complete it at some point. It was a good story and I had some ideas on what the final visuals might look like if I had more time to work on it.  When Oliver recently approached me about including it in an anthology of monster tales he was putting together, I was excited to revisit the story.

Attached is a sneak peak of some of my exploratory drawings of the characters. I hope you like them. :)

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Heady Mental Cover - Second Issue

Back in April, Sam Noir approached me about contributing a painted cover to his anthology, Heady Mental. I had a good chuckle when he told me his idea for the cover. Because of other commitments at the time, I told him I was interested but couldn't immediately commit. Luckily, he wasn't in a rush and was willing to wait. Some other obstacles arose further delaying things...but at long last it's finished! I can't show the full image yet but below is a sneak peek. When the issue is published in a few weeks, I will post the cover here.

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Toronto Cartoonists Workshop: Comics Lab - Cerebus 'Low Society' project

In mid-January, I joined up with other freelance artists and writers to create a comic anthology based on the established characters from Dave Sim’s Cerebus under the guidance and tutelage of series editor Rob Walton at the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop (TCW). I hadn't read the series before joining the project but upon mentioning it to the hubby I found out that we actually had the entire collection of Cerebus 'phone books' in our basement.  What luck!  I greedily devoured the first two phone books.  They were hilarious! Why hadn't I heard of this gruff-but-lovable Cerebus character and his motley gang of friends?

I got to pencil, ink and tone a short story written by Sam Noir and was fortunate to have an old pro like Ron Kasman beautifully letter our pages.  Unfortunately, I can't show any of my artwork—yet—but I was happy to hear that it has been picked up for distribution by Diamond and will be out in North American comic stores sometime in September. Yay!  This is a big deal for me because it's the first comic I've ever worked on and it will also be my first published work.

In the meantime, below is a small snapshot of the beautifully-finished cover collaboration with Gerhard, Dave Sim and the artists on the project.  My contribution is the little Cerebus running with the money bags.  You can see the full glorious cover page at Gerhard's blog.

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I am happy that I got a chance to work on this and team up with such a talented group of people.  It's been a wonderful learning experience.  Thanks to Dave and Rob, and everyone who made this happen.